DES Buckingham was encouraged from what he saw of his Oxford United debutants, as the U’s booked a place in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

First half goals from Tyler Goodrham and Matt Phillips were enough to secure a 2-0 win against Peterborough United, with four debutants in the starting line-up.

Phillips was one of those, plus goalkeeper Matt Ingram, right back Peter Kioso and midfielder Louie Sibley.

Another debutant was Malcolm Ebiowei, who replaced Phillips on the right wing at half-time.

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Buckingham said of Phillips: “I thought he was very good. He’s had two and a half weeks of training, and to get 45 minutes into him was the plan.

“For him to play the way he did, I think he was able to show his quality throughout the 45 minutes, whether it be his movement or quality on the ball, or the goal he got at the end.”

On Ebiowei, Buckingham added: “He’s another exciting one. He’s at the same stage in terms of fitness as Matty, so it was always the plan to share the game with 45 minutes each, to try and build them for where we’re going to need them.

“He’s another exciting player that adds depth to our wings.”

In goal, Ingram made a handful of smart saves to ensure he earned a clean sheet on his first United appearance.

Buckingham said: “We brought him in to have a really good battle with Simon Eastwood and Jamie Cumming.

“We could’ve gone with Jamie, but we haven’t brought Matt to sit around. We’ve brought him in for real competition in the goalkeeping department.

“We know the cup competitions are very different to last year. We don’t get a bank of them, we get one opportunity to get another one, so it’s an opportunity to look at him in the competition without throwing him in cold into the Championship if we needed to.”